Algeria: 4,600 Businessmen Protest Against 250 Billion Centimes (DA) To Be Paid In Taxes!

More than 4,600 businessmen, mostly from the provinces of Algiers, Oran, Setif and Blida, filed appeals against the high value of taxes imposed on them last year.

The collection of the appeals was estimated at 250 billion centimes (DA), according to the announcement on Thursday, filed with the National Governors’ Chamber of State Tax Appeal with regard to the year 2017.

In a statement to “Echorouk” newspaper, the head of the National Chamber of Governors, Mr Redjimi Laribi, said Thursday that 51 appeals’ committees scattered across 48 provinces, had registered 424 appeals during 2017, specifically in February 2017, for the dismissal of 4,607 case files submitted by businessmen, businesses’ owners, and even traders and private individuals in the accountants’ accounts, after being notified of the high value of the taxes levied on them.

The spokesman pointed out that the latest figure has been very high, compared to previous years, referring to the reforms adopted in 2015 and 2016, and the new procedures adopted, which  entrusted the accountants with  the task of forming the appeals committees, involving chambers of industry, trade and national representatives of the agriculture sector and industry representatives as well as other relevant sectors, by allocating 51 committees across the national territory at the rate of one commission in each  province except for the capital Algiers , which saw  the creation of 3 standing committees and two committees for appeals.

For his part, a member of the National Chamber of Governors, Mr Boulhour Yassine, counted in a statement to “Echorouk”, a total of 4,607 relevant appeals files after the meetings of committees at the national level, while other 85 files were postponed until the year 2018, noting that the latter will be addressed any time soon.

Our interlocutor also asserted that the committee meets once a month or twice a month, depending on the nature of the industrial and economic activities in each region.

He finally indicated that most of appeals’ committees are based in the capital Algiers, and in the cities of Oran, Sétif and Blida, stressing that 80 percent of the applicants who lodged the appeal files are businessmen and owners of enterprises.